Band of Angels

Band of Angels is a Silicon Valley angel investment group founded in 1994 by Hans Severiens and described as the first high-technology-specific angel investment group in the United States. It has more than 150 members, predominantly former and current high-technology executives, and has met monthly without exception since its first gathering of twelve people. The group focuses on seed-stage high-technology and life science companies, and reports funding more than 500 companies with 97 profitable trade sales and 17 initial public offerings over its history. Members invest directly as individuals: there is no pooled capital and no collective vote, though members collaborate on due diligence and share the negotiating leverage of investing alongside one another. Membership requires accredited-investor status, and the group expects members to attend roughly a third of meetings each year, invest in at least one deal annually, contribute to due diligence, share their professional networks and maintain confidentiality. Candidates enter either through sponsorship by an existing member or by attending a Band Deal Dinner, submitting a member information form and meeting the membership committee informally, after which an invitation follows if there is mutual fit.

仕組み

Companies pitch at a monthly Band Deal Dinner. Members form due diligence teams and then invest individually in the deals they choose; the Band does not pool capital or vote as a body. New members are recruited either on the sponsorship of an existing member or by attending a dinner as a guest and meeting the membership committee. An affiliated fund vehicle invests alongside the members.

典型的な会員像

Members are typically successful high-technology founders or executives who are accredited investors and interested in mentoring startups. They invest as individuals rather than through a pooled vote.

Band of Angels is the oldest organised technology angel group in the United States and the most explicitly participation-based in this batch: three published behavioural expectations - attend a third of meetings, invest in a deal a year, work on due diligence - rather than a wealth test alone. That makes it a poor fit for a passive investor and a good one for an operator who wants board and mentoring work. Membership skews heavily toward people who have already run technology companies, which is a genuine screen even though it is not written as a rule. Published figures differ by source and vintage: the Band's own site cites 500-plus companies funded, 97 trade sales and 17 IPOs, while Wikipedia gives USD 186 million into more than 200 startups with 63 acquisitions. Dues are not published anywhere.

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